Qatar industrial sector witnesses 7.1% growth..

Gulf Times | January 16, 2018- Higher crude extraction and a faster expansion in the manufacturing of refined petroleum, food products and basic metals led Qatar’s industrial sector witness a robust 7.1% growth year-on-year in November, according to official estimates. Nevertheless, the country’s Industrial Production Index (IPI) declined 1.5% month-on-month in the review month, show the figures released by the Ministry of Development Planning and Statistics (MDPS). The ministry introduced IPI, a short-term quantitative index that measures the changes in the volume of production of a selected basket of industrial products over a given period with respect to a base period 2013. The mining and quarrying index, which has a relative weight of 83.6%, reported 7.2% surge on a yearly basis in November 2017 on the back of 7.2% increase in extraction of crude petroleum and natural gas and 2.8% in other mining and quarrying segments. On a monthly basis, the index showed 1% dip as the extraction of crude and natural gas slumped 1% even as other mining and quarrying index soared 4.4%. The manufacturing index, with a relative weight of 15.2%, showed 6.1% surge year-on-year last November owing to a 35.1% surge in the production of refined petroleum products, 19.9% in foods products, 15.5% in basic metals, 2.4% in beverages, 0.4% in chemicals and chemical products and 0.2% in printing and reproduction of recorded media. However, there was 11.7% shrinkage in the production of cement and other non-metallic mineral products and 8.3% in rubber and plastics products. On a monthly basis, the manufacturing index fell 3.1% with beverages production declining 9.5%, chemicals and chemical products (6.7%) and food products (1.5%). Nevertheless, there was 9.6% increase in the production of cement and other non-metallic mineral products, 7.7% in basic metals, 7.2% in printing and reproduction of recorded media, 4.9% in rubber and plastics products and 0.1% in refined petroleum products. Electricity, which has 0.7% weight in the IPI basket, saw 14.9% expansion on a yearly basis but reported 19.9% slump on a yearly basis; while in the case of water, which has a 0.5% weight, there was a 2% and 7.5% decline month-on-month and year-on-year respectively.

A view of the Ras Laffan Industrial City, some 80km north of the capital Doha (file). Qatar’s manufacturing index showed 6.1% surge year-on-year last November owing to a 35.1% surge in the production of refined petroleum products, 19.9% in foods products, 15.5% in basic metals, 2.4% in beverages, 0.4% in chemicals and chemical products and 0.2% in printing and reproduction of recorded media.